Resizing Plot

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford's feeling pretty okay today. Well, he's kind of sick from Bernard's rotgut whiskey, but hungover is preferable to withdrawal symptoms. It still sucks, but he knows what to do about hangovers.

He's up at the bar with some good, old-fashioned breakfast. Fried eggs, greasy bacon and sausage, hashbrowns drowned in ketchup, toast, and an enormous glass of orange juice. He's not going to be able to finish it all, but he has a tiny puppy on the floor below him, waiting for anything to drop.

Comments

[iprotectyou]

"Hoi, Wilford! May the Force of others be with you!" Baze says, approaching from the back door. He has a tiny staff slung over tinier shoulders, and stops to smell the food.

"That looks really good. Bar, may I have the same?"

He clambers up onto a barstool, and beams at the plate of food and glass of juice that pops up.

"How are you? Still feeling like hell?"

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford hums and drops a little bit of bacon for his puppy. He still can't actually believe he's in charge of a puppy, but there it is.

"Bernard drinks some nasty shit," he says.

Also, he's twelve. Of course he's hungover.

[iprotectyou]

"Oh, him," Baze says, digging into his food.

"Yeah, I bet he does. Did you manage to get some liquor from him? Why am I not surprised?"

[cottoncandypink]

"Sort of. Not much."

It's probably for the best, if he's feeling this nasty as it is.

"He's probably going to complain about it all week."

[iprotectyou]

Baze blinks at him, pausing in eating.

"Why would he complain?" the mini-Guardian asks, squinting at the mini-Wilford.

"How, exactly, did you get his booze?"

[cottoncandypink]

"He took my money and then wouldn't pony up, so I took it from him."

Honestly, it was Bernard's fault. He shouldn't have taken Wilford's cash if he didn't intent on actually delivering.

[iprotectyou]

"Did you hurt him?" Baze says, blinking at him. As a child, Baze exhibits the quality of 'wide-eyed innocence' quite well, though he's not really that naïve.

[cottoncandypink]

"He's three times my size," Wilford points out. And he is awfully scrawny.

And if Bernard fell over when he was pushed by a skinny brat, then he was obviously too drunk to be in public in the first place.

[iprotectyou]

"Hmph," Baze says, cutting his eggs with his fork.

"Just because he's currently bigger than you--three times, really?--doesn't mean you didn't hurt him."

[cottoncandypink]

"I didn't hurt him," Wilford says, poking at his eggs.

He was shouting for attention. It sounds different.



Wilford would know.

[iprotectyou]

Baze hums, content with that answer. He drinks half his juice--damn, orange juice is the best drink ever! Holy shavit, how did he not have any before now?--and starts making inroads on his hashbrowns. He's going to eat all of this food, come hell or high water, because wasting food is a terrible thing.

"So, I have to warn you: Lady Margolotta, a vampire, wanted to challenge me to a bet regarding you. She wanted to see who could reform you fastest."

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford stops poking at his food for a few seconds while he listens to Baze's warning.

"Well, she can take her recycled people and fuck right off."

That's what Wilford thinks about that.

[iprotectyou]

"I spent some time convincing her that people are not her playthings," Baze says, trying to recall what recycled people Wilford may be referring to. Ah, yes, the Igors. Right.

"She conceded the point. Then I got bored and wandered off. Have you noticed how easy it is to get bored as a kid?"

[upwiththisiwillnotput]

Bernard comes up behind the young man, now wearing a more sensible cast without a pole, and leans down, without touching him.

"How about I get that hip flask back, before I have Security throw your nasty, thieving, assaulting little arse in jail?" He says, in a low, menacing voice.

"I was going to give you the alcohol, once you stopped behaving like shits."

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford doesn't look up at him. He's got a headache, and this food is disgusting and isn't helping.

"You shouldn't have taken my money and then gave us the third degree."

[upwiththisiwillnotput]

"Sure, in future, I'll tell you to fuck off instead." Bernard says. "And let you withdraw, like everyone else did."

[cottoncandypink]

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out then," Wilford says. He drops a piece of bacon down for his puppy.

[upwiththisiwillnotput]

"Ten seconds or I call Security." Bernard says. "And show them my cast and hospital discharge paperwork from home, which reports a newly broken rib, which I have a witness to back up. Maybe they'll be kind and only give you a week in the jail."

He puts a hand out. "Hip flask, and we'll say no more."

[cottoncandypink]

"You took money from a kid for cigarettes and booze. And delivered on the cigarettes. Is that a misdemeanour or a felony?" Wilford asks calmly.

[upwiththisiwillnotput]

"Don't care any more." Bernard holds his hand still out. "I'll do the time for that, you'll do more, so let's make this easy on both of us. I need that back, so please, let's not both spend the next evening in the jail."

[cottoncandypink]

Wilford sighs, and thinks real hard about what he wants to do.

"You sure I'll do more time? I didn't sell cigarettes to a minor."

[upwiththisiwillnotput]

Bernard looks around for an adult Security member, then strides over to Baze in the corner.

"Excuse me, Mr Blaze, that kid over there has assaulted me and stolen my property. He charged me when I already had a broken arm and broke one of my ribs."

[iprotectyou]

Baze, now adult-sized, glances up from his tea, and takes his feet off the ottoman where they were roasting by the fire. He does have his Security badge on, so he's not exactly surprised to be approached, but he scowls when he sees who did the misdeed.

"You said you didn't hurt him," Baze says, in his Most Disappointed voice. He stands from his seat.

[cottoncandypink]

Apparently the magic is starting to wear off everywhere, because while Bernard is off being a filthy rat, Wilford suddenly finds himself normal sized again. The tiny puppy at his feet is now a 50-pound dog.

Either way, when Bernard and Baze return, there is no child left to scold.

[upwiththisiwillnotput]

Bernard looks thoroughly confused. He orders himself a drink.

"Get one for these two while you're at it." He tells Bar, before turning to Wilford.

"You seen a scrawny little kid? Little asshole broke my rib and won't give my hip flask back."